Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what measures he is considering to protect livestock from dogs that are being exercised in the countryside on farmland.

There is a range of measures available to the police and local authorities to prevent or respond to dog attacks on livestock. The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 makes it an offence to allow a dog to be dangerously out of control and this includes in and around livestock. In addition, the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 makes it an offence to allow a dog to worry livestock. The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 includes specific powers for police and local authorities to take action before a dog becomes dangerously out of control by issuing a warning notice for low level dog related nuisance. The table below provides the number of people prosecuted under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 for allowing dogs to worry all types of livestock, including sheep, in the last five years for which figures are available. Prosecutions have been made under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 but data is not centrally held on the circumstances of how the dog was dangerously out of control.